Abstinence Only Programs = Teenage Wasteland
Here is a guest post by Emily Kronenberger from New Wave Grrrl. [What I think: As a mother this issue infuriates me, and I have written about it in a post titled Teen Pregnancy Rising - Abstinence Only Not Working.]
(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)
Last week, on Wednesday April 23rd, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) curriculum programs. testimony was heard from both AOUM advocates and advocates of Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs, which include information on abstinence, family planning, contraception and condom usage. AOUM programs are still widely used in public middle and high schools across the US, despite the evidence-based conclusions and consensus among researchers, community health educators, and other professionals that they are ineffective in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and decreasing the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among young people.
In addition, aside from not being an effective tool in the prevention of unplanned pregnancies or STIs among US teens, these programs have not been able to deliver on improved knowledge outcomes, and do not increase baseline knowledge or core competencies among young people on health subjects.
In these tumultuous economic times, and within a current budget season where both Federal and state budgets are experiencing massive cuts to some critical programs that make up the very fabric of our nation’s safety net, Republican AND Democratic members of Congressional Committees have still approved vast funding increases for AOUM programs in public schools over the past several months. Ongoing approval for these programs which lack evidence of improved outcomes and efficacy is outrageous! Not only is this a public health issue (and a public health failure I might add), but it is also an economic and accountability issue. Why continue to fund a program that simply DOES NOT WORK?
For more information on this issue, visit the following links:
*Committee Holds Hearing Assessing the Evidence of Domestic Abstinence-Only Programs:
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1888*”Content of Federally-Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs,” better known as the Waxman Report, Prepared by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf*Testimony by Shelby Knox, Comprehensive Sexuality Education Activist and subject of the HBO Documentary, “The Education of Shelby Knox:”
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080423120409.pdf*Statement by James Wagoner of Advocates for Youth on the most recent Oversight Hearing:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/news/press/042308.htm
—
More Political Voices of Women…
We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the I’s…
I Hate Your Opinions — A cynical political blog with 2008 election coverage, book reviews of autobiographies of presidential candidates, and more
Impudent Ways — tattooed tea enthusiast. like that’s original.
In The Pink Texas — Humorous Texas and national political blog targets a readership of influential legislators, lobbyists and media. Has received over 700,000 hits since it launched last year.
Informed Voters 2008 — I’m a 30-year old wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, veteran, citizen, patriot, wanna-be environmentalist and conscientious voter.
It’s Curtains For You - nanc is a breath of fresh air in a stale world.
It’s My Right To Be Left of the Center — The truth doesn’t care where you or I stand on an issue. I want to see through the bullshit of it all and find the Truth. It’s there somewhere.
